SoundWorks Collection

We chat with re-recording mixer Mike Prestwood Smith about his recent work on Rocketman and explore his creative process recreating the iconic songs that defined Elton John’s career and personal journey. Rocketman is a 2019 biographical musical film based on the life of musician Elton John. Directed by Dexter Fletcher and written by Lee Hall, it stars Taron Egerton as John, with Jamie Bell, Richard Madden, and Bryce Dallas Howard. The film follows John's early days as a prodigy at the Royal Academy of Music to his musical partnership with Bernie Taupin. The film is titled after John's 1972 song "Rocket Man". An Elton John biopic had been in development for almost two decades, with the project going through studios including Walt Disney Studios and Focus Features, directors including Michael Gracey, and actors including Tom Hardy and Justin Timberlake. After creative differences with Focus halted an initial production start in 2014, John took the project to Paramount Pictures, with Egerton and Fletcher signing on in April 2018. Principal photography began in August 2018 and was completed later that year.

The eighth and final season of Game of Thrones has concluded and in this conversation we chat with Supervising Sound Editor Tim Kimmel and Sound Designer Paula Fairfield about the Great War against the Army of the Dead, dragon battles and the war for the throne at King’s Landing. The final season depicts the culmination of the series' two primary conflicts: the Great War against the Army of the Dead, and the Last War for control of the Iron Throne. The first half of the season involves many of the main characters converging at Winterfell with their armies in an effort to repel the approaching White Walkers and their army of wights. The second half of the season resumes the war for the throne as Daenerys Targaryen assaults King's Landing in an attempt to unseat Cersei Lannister as the ruler of the Seven Kingdoms.

We chat with Composer Nathan Whitehead (The Purge, Keanu) about his recent work on the PS4 exclusive video game, DAYS GONE from Sony Bend Studio. We discuss his move from East Tennessee to Los Angeles, early mentors including Supervising Sound Editor Dane Davis and Composer Steve Jablonsky and creating the sound of a post-apocalyptic wilderness setting.

Summit Post is for the crazy ones – for the directors and producers who see things differently and want to challenge the status quo of the post production experience. We are for clients seeking collaboration, passion, and flexibility to explore the boundaries of sound with the industry’s top sound designers, editors and mixers. We are committed to speed and high quality without compromising creativity or fun. From independent films to major features, episodic television and emerging media we bring together the best team to meet the unique needs of each project. Summit Post is a state-of-the-art 7.1 and ATMOS mix stage with SourceConnet capacity. From major and independent feature films, to episodic television and emerging media, we bring together the best team to meet the unique needs of each project. Summit Post was founded in 2004 by Motion Picture Academy member and industry veteran Derek Vanderhorst. With over two decades of experience, Derek has worked on over 130 feature films and episodic television, games and new media including in-house roles at Fox, Paramount, Universal, and Warner Brothers. In his various roles, Derek saw the need to evolve the sound engineering industry to better support the emerging trends and technology in filmmaking. He founded Summit Post to offer more flexible and customized options for directors and producers seeking deeper collaboration and more freedom in the post sound process. Derek’s passion around the complexity of sound began in 1975 when he learned to handmake make a Rabab (a Persian lute-like musical instrument) with his grandfather in Aurora Colorado. The exotic sound of the Rabab grew into a fascination with the unusual noises made by old broken cars, which propelled him on a quest to explore sound design as a profession, landing him in Hollywood in 1991 www.summitpostsound.com

Production sound mixer Steve Morrow, Grammy-winning music mixer Nick Baxter, and re-recording mixer Dean Zupancic talk about grabbing crowd scenes between sets at the Stagecoach and Glastonbury music festivals, how doing impulse responses in each of the venues allowed them to recreate the sound of the arenas in post-production, and how Bradley Cooper was not your typical first-time director. Steve Morrow, Production sound mixer Nick Baxter, Music mixer Dean Zupancic, Re-recording mixer

In this two-part episode, Writer/Director Alfonso Cuarónjoins his sound, picture, and music editorial artists to discuss the extraordinarily detailed work that went into re-creating the Mexico City of his 1970s childhood, including how not having a musical score keeps the audience guessing what will happen next, why it was important to have the dialog emanate not just from the screen channels but all around the audience, and how shooting the movie in sequence allowed for more spontaneous performances. In part two, Supervising sound editor & re-recording mixer Skip Lievsay takes us on a deep dive discussion of how the film’s complex tracks were constructed, including a discussion of the 70-day final mix of the film. Alfonso Cuarón, Writer/director Skip Lievsay, Supervising sound editor & Re-recording mixer Craig Henighan, Sound designer and Re-recording mixer Jose Garcia, Production sound mixer Adam Gough, Picture editor Lynn Fainchtein, Music supervisor Carlos Morales, Post-production supervisor

In this two-part episode, First Man’s sound editing nominees Ai-Ling Lee and Mildred Iatrou Morgan and sound mixing nominees Frank Montaño and Jon Taylor join composer Justin Hurwitz and picture editor Tom Cross to discuss how the film’s documentary look (it was filmed in Super-16mm) affected the approach to sound and music, and how the sound elements contributed to the understanding of how dangerous the early space flights were. In part two, we join Production sound mixer Mary Ellis as she talks about the challenges of recording the production tracks for the film, including the complex system they devised to record dialog inside the astronauts’ helmets in the cramped space capsule. Ai-Ling Lee, Supervising sound editor & re-recording mixer Mildred Iatrou Morgan, Supervising sound editor Justin Hurwitz, Composer Frank Montaño, Re-recording mixer Jon Taylor, Re-recording mixer Tom Cross, Film editor Mary Ellis, Production sound mixer

In this exclusive video Veteran music writer Jon Burlingame chats with Oscar nominated Composer Nicholas Britell about his recent work on, “If Beale Street Could Talk” and the organic process of collaborating with the director Barry Jenkins on the film’s lush and evocative score. In early 1970s Harlem, daughter and wife-to-be Tish vividly recalls the passion, respect and trust that have connected her and her artist fiancé Alonzo Hunt, who goes by the nickname Fonny. Friends since childhood, the devoted couple dream of a future together, but their plans are derailed when Fonny is arrested for a crime he did not commit.

Supervising sound editor and re-recording mixer Steve Boeddeker and re-recording mixer Brandon Proctor talk about how the sound design of futuristic Wakanda technology and weaponry is influenced by West African sounds, how they used signature sounds to differentiate the action in Wakanda, Oakland, and Korea, and the intricacies of constructing the ritual fight scenes in a waterfall.

Sound Editing nominees John Warhurst and Nina Hartstone join Sound Mixing nominees Paul Massey, Tim Cavagin, and John Casali to discuss the intricate work of building the sounds of the rock band Queen for Bohemian Rhapsody. In this episode the team discusses the process of recreating the band’s famous 1985 Live-Aid concert performance, how sound design helped to get inside the head of an agitated Freddie Mercury during an infamous London press conference, and how having access to the band’s original session tapes let this Oscar-nominated team build the amazing scene where the band records the iconic “Bohemian Rhapsody” single.